The Defense Department has ordered submarines, helicopters and jet engines. Can Connecticut build them?

The 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) will prompt the U.S. Department of Defense to buy more vehicles and weapons from General Dynamics Electric Boat, Sikorsky and Pratt and Whitney over the next five years.

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The 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) will prompt the U.S. Department of Defense to buy more vehicles and weapons from General Dynamics Electric Boat, Sikorsky and Pratt and Whitney over the next

... more Photo: Douglas Healey / Associated Press

Photo: Douglas Healey / Associated Press

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The 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) will prompt the U.S. Department of Defense to buy more vehicles and weapons from General Dynamics Electric Boat, Sikorsky and Pratt and Whitney over the next five years.

less

The 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) will prompt the U.S. Department of Defense to buy more vehicles and weapons from General Dynamics Electric Boat, Sikorsky and Pratt and Whitney over the next

... more Photo: Douglas Healey / Associated Press

The Defense Department has ordered submarines, helicopters and jet engines. Can Connecticut build them?

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WASHINGTON — A $738 billion defense bill soon to become law will send more business to Connecticut's submarine, helicopter and jet engine manufacturers, but could exacerbate existing labor shortages for those companies.

The 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) will prompt the U.S. Department of Defense to buy more vehicles and weapons from General Dynamics Electric Boat, Sikorsky and Pratt and Whitney over the next five years.

"This defense budget is tremendous win for our national security but also for the unrivaled, skilled and dedicated workforce we have in Connecticut," said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., one of many lawmakers who spent the last few months hammering out a deal on the final bipartisan bill.

The NDAA passed the House on Wednesday and is expected to get a vote in the Senate this week. President Donald Trump has indicated he will sign the legislation, which increases overall defense spending, creates a Space Force as a new military branch.

It will give armed service members — of which these are at least 7,000 in Connecticut — a 3.1 percent pay raise, the largest in a decade. It also awards all federal employees 12 weeks of paid leave. Just over 18,000 federal employees live in the state.

Key for Connecticut's economy, the bill sets up the U.S. Navy, Air Force and Military to buy new submarines, helicopters and airplane parts, as well as investing in the research and supply chains that produce those products. The NDAA puts money toward workforce development programs targeted at advance manufacturing too.

Securing these investments have been a top priority for the Connecticut delegation, particularly Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2, whose district is home to Electric Boat and a Naval Submarine Base in New London.

"It really is a good bill for Connecticut," Courtney said.

But even some of these lawmakers are wondering if the production demands generated by the legislation they helped author will outstrip the workers now available to complete manufacture these complex and expensive military vehicles.

"The most common question I'm asked at the Pentagon when I advocate for these weapons platforms is can you find people to fill these jobs?" Blumenthal said. "It's a question that we still have to answer."

Big buys

The legislation sets up Electric Boat to construct 10 new attack submarines for the Department of Defense from 2019 to 2023, reinforcing a contract executed earlier this year. The bill authorizes $8.5 billion to pay for the two Virginia Class submarines Electric Boat will build next year and authorizes millions more to ensure these submarines contain expensive modules to launch missiles and underwater unmanned vehicles.

It will also fund construction of the next-generation of submarines with the capacity to launch nuclear missiles. Electric Boat is expected start building Columbia Class submarines in October 2020.

The purchase of these submarines is a major investment for the U.S. Navy which currently has about 70 submarines in its force, some of which need to be decommissioned and replaced with more high-tech boats.

These boats will be constructed at Electric Boat's facilities in Groton, Connecticut and North Kingstown, Rhode Island, in partnership with Hunting Ingalls Industries in Newport News, Virginia. Electric Boat declined to comment for this article.

To the west, Stratford-based Sikorsky will see billions in helicopter purchases prompted by the NDAA. The legislation will fund production of 73 new Black Hawk helicopters flown by the Army, 6 CH-53K helicopters flown by the U.S. Marines, 12 Combat Rescue helicopters flown by the Air Force and 6 Marine One helicopters used to transport the president and top U.S. leaders.

Sikorsky produces some of the aircraft at sites in Stratford and Bridgeport. It also has two overhaul and repair centers in Shelton and Trumbull, a spokesperson for the company said.

To the north, East Hartford-based Pratt and Whitney will produce engines for 90 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter planes as a result of the 2020 NDAA. These planes fly in the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps. The bill also authorizes about $2.2 billion for 12 tanker aircraft, powered by Pratt and Whitney engines, and invests in the development of long range bomber planes the Pratt and Whitney is helping develop.

Bloomfield-based Kaman Aerospace will also receive millions to continue development of unmanned logistics capabilities for a helicopter used by the Marine Corps. Pratt and Whitney and Kaman Aerospace did not respond to requests for comment.

All these investments are expected to boost business for the many companies that are part of Electric Boat, Sikorsky, Pratt and Whitney and Kaman Aerospace's supply chains.

Workforce

The NDAA authorizes $8 million to bolster workforce training programs to help support expansion of the skilled submarine workforce. That money from the Department of Defense will build on a $50 million the Connecticut Department of Labor has earmarked for an apprentice initiative to help support the state's manufacturing sector.

Gov. Ned Lamont has made workforce development a state priority this fall by appointing Connecticut's first chief manufacturing officer and creating the Governor's Workforce Council, a task force stacked with CEOs.

But is it enough?

Heralded a "silver tsunami," the state's workforce shortage is predicted to grow in coming years as aging workers retire leaving thousands of open jobs for younger people that often less interested in the manufacturing trades or lacking the skills to take of advanced engineering and technology work.

Over the past 5 years, Pratt and Whitney, and its parent company United Technologies, has hired 1,500 engineers and 800 graduates from the University of Connecticut, said Kazem Kazerounian, Dean of the School of Engineering at the University of Connecticut.

Electric Boat has hired about 10,000 people over the past five to six years and partnered with universities, community colleges and the state to produce workforce training programs to send skilled workers into its shipyards. But finding workers still remains a challenge, companies report.

"There has to be an urgency in recognizing the need to scale up radically workforce training," Blumenthal said.

emilie.munson@hearstdc.com; Twitter: @emiliemunson